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Search Engine Optimization Tips - Study
Results
Scroll down to view study website optimization
study results. Check back here for frequent updates to
the results of this study.
Tracking Website Performance
In part one of this series we ask "in today's Internet battlefield, which site is destined to prevail?" We predicted that the web page optimization applied to WITHseo.com would result in better performance. In other words, we expect the Rich Website to outperform the Poor Website. But, what the heck does "outperform" mean? As a website owner, how do you accurately determine whether your website and Internet marketing activities produce the desired results?
The primary goal of this case study is to generate online traffic to WITHseo.com. You’ll recall that we speculated that the SEO techniques applied to WITHseo.com will result in better search engine performance compared to WITHOUTseo. There can be no doubt that better search engine performance translates to better traffic. For that reason, we'll analyze the extent to which the two sites are properly indexed in the search engines along with metrics related to site traffic.
Our secondary goals include "sticky" visits as evidenced by navigation to the interior pages of WITHseo.com as well as lead generation as evidenced by navigation to the EBIZ Machine web site (EBIZMachine.com). In this regard, we will to review performance indicators related to “conversion”. Here conversion is the occurrence of an important action taken by online visitors: navigation to a WITHseo.com interior page or to the EBIZ Machine website.
The KPI’s then include the following analytics:
- Visits and Page Views - WITHseo.com vs. WITHOUTseo.com
- Internal Page Views - WITHseo.com case study details and results
- Pages indexed in the Google search engine and Yahoo! Directory - WITHseo.com vs. WITHOUTseo.com
- Google Analytics Conversion Rates - WITHseo.com
In addition to log file analytics made available to us by our website hosting company, we will utilize Google Analytics (http://www.google.com/analytics) to review metrics developed through “page tagging”. In general, Google Analytics is a free service designed to provide information related to where online visitors came from, how long they stay on the website and their geographical location.
For more detailed information about the web analytics and KPI's selected for this case study, see Part 2 "Tracking Website Performance" of "Rich Website, Poor
Website". For more detailed information about the case study results, see Part 3 "Good SEO Triumphs! " of "Rich Website, Poor
Website" and review the results listed below.
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Actions Taken
Web Sites Release: -
May 1, 2007
Last Updated: - August 29, 2007
DESCRIPTION |
WITHSEO |
WITHOUTSEO |
NOTES |
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| Web Page Optization - Optimized withseo.com home page for keyphrase "search engine optimization tips" - 4/25/2007 |
YES |
NO |
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| Google Sitemap Submitted - 4/26/2007 |
YES |
NO |
Verified in Google |
| Yahoo Sitemap Submitted - 4/26/2007 |
YES |
NO |
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| GOGUIDES.ORG Submission - 4/30/2007 |
YES |
NO |
$39 |
| Selected search engine and directory submissions - 4/30/2007 |
YES |
NO |
FREE |
| JoeAnt Directory Submission - 5/1/2007 |
YES |
NO |
$39.99 |
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| PRWeb Press Release "Denver Internet Marketing Strategy Firm Ebiz Machine Releases Search Engine Optimization Case Study 'Rich Website, Poor Website'" - 5/9/2007 |
YES |
NO |
$80 |
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| Integrated Alliances Newsletter Column "Rich Website, Poor Website Part 1 " - 5/10/2007 |
YES |
NO |
FREE |
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| Withseo.com Web Page Updates - made routinely as needed |
YES |
NO |
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| EzineArticles submission "SEO Miniseries - Rich Website, Poor Website - A Website Visibility Battle of Epic Proportions " - 6/21/2007 |
YES |
NO |
FREE |
| PRWeb Press Release "Denver Internet Marketing Strategy Firm Ebiz Machine Releases Second Article 'Tracking Website Performance' In Seo Miniseries 'Rich Website, Poor Website' " - 7/2/2007 |
YES |
NO |
$80 |
| ArticleBin "Tracking Website Performance - Part 2 of the SEO Miniseries "Rich Website, Poor Website" 7/3/2007 |
YES |
NO |
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| Integrated Alliances Newsletter Column "Part 2: T racking Website Performance" - 7/23/2007 |
YES |
NO |
FREE |
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Set up Google Analytics 7/2/2007 - 2 goals:
1. Review Case Study Details - seo-case-study.html
2. Review Case Study Results - seo-case-study-results.html |
YES |
NO |
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Results
Log
Web Sites Release: -
May 1, 2007
Last Updated: - May 1,
2007
CRITERIA |
TIME PERIOD |
WITHSEO |
WITHOUTSEO |
COMMENTS |
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| Indexed Pages in Google |
30-Aug-07 |
4 |
4 |
only withseo.com has a Yahoo sitemap! |
| Indexed Pages in Yahoo |
30-Aug-07 |
3 |
1 |
only withseo.com has a Google sitemap! |
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| Pages on other sites pointing to our site - Google |
30-Aug-07 |
72 |
38 |
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| Pages on other sites pointing to our site - Yahoo |
30-Aug-07 |
26 |
14 |
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| Yahoo Descriptive Info |
30-Aug-07 |
"Search Engine Optimization Tips - WITHseo.com SEO Case Study Home Page" |
"WITHOUTseo.com" |
No explanation of purpose of site |
| Google Descriptive Info |
30-Aug-07 |
"Search Engine Optimization Tips - WITHseo.com SEO Case Study Home Page" |
"FREE WEB COUNTER" |
WITHOUTSEO.COM is totally misrepresented in Google! |
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| Keyphrase placements in first 2 pages of search engine results |
30-Aug-07 |
6 |
0 |
For keyphrases "seo case study" and "seo study" WITHSEO.COM appeared on top 2 pages of search results for Google and Aol |
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| Googlebot: Number of ways in which external links reference the site |
30-Aug-07 |
11 |
2 |
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| Conversions |
1-June to 29-Aug-07 |
13 |
0 |
Goal 1: Drill in and review case study details page and Goal 2: Drill in and review case study results page |
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WEBSITE PERFORMANCE METRICS |
WITHSEO.COM STATS |
WITHOUTSEO.COM STATS |
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| Notes: May and August are not complete months |
Notes: May and August are not complete months |
WITHSEO.COM COMMENTS:
Visits and page views more than double those of WITHOUTSEO.COM
It's clear from analysis of "referrers", the PRWeb press releases generated a significant amount of traffic as well as the original source of external links back to the WITHSEO.COM site.
Top Referring Sites:
(direct access) 41.67%
google (organic search) 27.78%
prweb.com (referral) 19.44%
emediawire.com (referral) 5.56%
joeant.com (referral) 5.56%
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WITHOUTSEO.COM COMMENTS:
Note
that the online attention generated from the PRWeb press releases also directed traffic and created external links to WITHOUTSEO.com because the press release content referenced both sites. In hindsight it would have been better to have left out the WITHOUTSEO.COM URL - the differences in performance would have been even more apparent.
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Results Observations
After a few months of performance, there can be no doubt that the SEO techniques utilized on WITHSEO.COM have enhanced its effectiveness in a number of ways. First, indexed pages and backlinks to WITHSEO.COM clearly exceed those for WITHOUTSEO.COM EVEN THOUGH both sites are so small to begin with! Imagine the impact search engine optimization can have for larger sites!
Second, we were pleased to see that WITHSEO.COM made it into the top 2 pages of search results (Google and AOL) for two important search phrases "seo case study" and "seo study". Again, it's relevant to point out that the WITHSEO.COM site is tiny compared to other SEO-related sites, blogs and feeds now on the Internet.
Third, the differences in unique visitors and page views clearly favor WITHSEO.COM. Our opinion is that the publicity, better visibility of WITSEO.COM and the more content-rich links increased the liklihood of seeing WITHSEO.COM and clicking on a link to WITHSEO.COM.
Fourth, and perhaps most important, is the manner in which the WITHSEO.COM web pages are described in the search results. It's clear that our time was well spent defining page title, page description and meta tags. Google believes that the WITHOUTSEO.COM site sells WEB COUNTERS because we failed to tell Google otherwise. Obviously, the liklihood of online surfers ending up on WITHOUTSEO.COM for the wrong reasons is high. It's clear, however, that WITHSEO.COM relates to SEO. |
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